My Three Favorite Eco-friendly Baby Products

One of the hot trends for 2018 is eco-friendly baby products. Hallelujah!

When I think about the quantity of plastic baby junk sitting in landfills, it makes me more than a little queasy. Some parents choose to go the minimalist route and buy only the most necessary of baby items. That’s one great way to be kinder to Mother Earth. For others of us, we cherish those support tools that make the day-to-day with a baby a little easier. Sure, it’d be great to go through life without a stroller or those incredibly convenient pureed food pouches, but it’s hard to turn down “easy options” when you’re just trying to get through the day. Personally, I end up feeling pretty guilty about the amount of *stuff* I’ve used and abandoned.

That’s why the eco-friendly baby trend makes me so very happy. More companies are offering earth-friendly options that let me keep the convenience without killing the planet. Easy AND eco-friendly? YES PLEASE.

Here are a three of the eco-friendly options I’m loving this year:

Smitten Bassinet Box

At Pip & Grow, we’re proud to be Mother Earth Friendly with the Smitten Baby Box. Smitten is made from recycled cardboard and can be recycled when baby is done using it. PLUS, it replaces expensive, plastic-heavy, bassinets that a baby will only need for a few months. That’s a double win.

Oh, and did I mention that Smitten is made in the USA? That can give you warm fuzzies because you’re supporting businesses that treat their workers well. But, on the eco-friendly front, it also means shorter shipping distances and lower carbon emissions to get Smitten from our door to yours.

Green Toys

Like Smitten, Green Toys are made in the USA from recycled materials. Which we love for all of the reasons I named above. My daughter especially loves the bath tub submarine. (She thinks it’s a whale and sings Baby Beluga to it. Maybe we should address this with her, but it’s so freaking adorable that I can’t quite bring myself to tell her the truth.)

TerraCycle

Remember those pouches I mentioned above? If you aren’t familiar with those handy items, then you’re probably making your own baby food and this tip isn’t for you. Basically there are pouches of pureed fruits, veggies, grains, yogurt, etc… that kids can easily eat on the go. It’s my go-to car snack and the easiest way to make sure my picky eater gets some kind of veggie at every meal. The biggest downside, as far as I’m concerned, is that they make A TON of trash. Between the disposable container and massive top (so babies can’t choke on it), there’s a lot of garbage.

With TerraCycle, you can recycle almost anything. For this example, we order a gigantic box, fill it with pouches, and ship it back to them. Voila. It’s as easy as chucking the pouches in the trash with the major bonus that it doesn’t kill the planet. You don’t have to stop with pouches, either. They also recycle things like those incredibly convenient, single-use, coffee pods.